Saturday, April 9, 2016

IS THE CLINTON FOUNDATION A POLITICAL MONEY LAUNDERING MACHINE?

Do people really believe that the Clinton's Foundation is nothing more than a benevolent philanthropic endeavor out to do good?

If you take a closer look at what goes on behind the scenes you find there's much more than meets the eye;

A handful of deep-pocketed donors are reconsidering their gifts to the $2 billion Clinton Foundation amid mounting questions about how it’s spending their money and suggestions of influence peddling, according to donors and others familiar with the foundation’s fundraising.

“There are a lot of factors and the reputational is among them,” said the donor, who did not want to be identified discussing philanthropic plans that have not been finalized. “We had some questions about how the money was being spent — and that was long before the problems were in the press.”

At least three other major donors also are re-evaluating whether to continue giving large donations to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, according to people familiar with its fundraising. read more;

Hillary is very good at deflection and remains consistent in her, until now, successful attempts to redirect the focus of her and her families peccadillo's on to other things like thumping Trump.

And there's the bigger problem just waiting to rear it's ugly head should, God forbid, Hillary win the nomination because the kind of "baggage" Hillary brings with her is manna from heaven for the GOP.

It's ugly;

Even by the standards of arms deals between the United States and Saudi Arabia, this one was enormous. A consortium of American defense contractors led by Boeing would deliver $29 billion worth of advanced fighter jets to the United States' oil-rich ally in the Middle East.

Israeli officials were agitated, reportedly complaining to the Obama administration that this substantial enhancement to Saudi air power risked disrupting the region's fragile balance of power. The deal appeared to collide with the State Department’s documented concerns about the repressive policies of the Saudi royal family.

But now, in late 2011, Hillary Clinton’s State Department was formally clearing the sale, asserting that it was in the national interest. At press conferences in Washington to announce the department’s approval, an assistant secretary of state, Andrew Shapiro, declared that the deal had been “a top priority” for Clinton personally. Shapiro, a longtime aide to Clinton since her Senate days, added that the “U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army have excellent relationships in Saudi Arabia.”

These were not the only relationships bridging leaders of the two nations. In the years before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed at least $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, the philanthropic enterprise she has overseen with her husband, former president Bill Clinton. Just two months before the deal was finalized, Boeing -- the defense contractor that manufactures one of the fighter jets the Saudis were especially keen to acquire, the F-15 -- contributed $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to a company press release. read more;

Politico reported that this has led some supporters to believe that the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation should suspend its events through the Democratic primary and leading up to the general election. One fundraiser commented that the Clintons should “relax” with the foundation work and give full attention to helping the former secretary of state win Iowa.

“Gosh, can’t they relax a bit on that work and focus on winning Iowa?” the bundler said. “But everyone is resigned to how they function, and presumes they know what they are doing.”

While both Bill and Chelsea Clinton have been campaigning for Hillary in past weeks, they will have to split their time between appearing at Clinton Foundation events and supporting the presidential candidate. Bill and Chelsea, who serves as the foundation’s vice chair, will together headline a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) event in New York City between the caucuses and the primaries in the coming months. read more;

There is an underlying theme in these reports that has dogged the Clintons for decades and has freshly come to the fore early in Hillary Clinton’s second run for the White House — the couple’s secretive tendencies and their connections to big sums of cash.

In a sign of heightening concerns, the most pointed query from donors on Thursday at a New York City fundraising kick off was, how do we respond to questions about these allegations?

Hillary Clinton’s camp is swinging back at what has become a deluge of reports detailing perceived conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency about her family foundation’s acceptance of foreign cash, but top aides are so far stopping short of full-on panic mode.

Over the past week, drips of information have leaked out from an upcoming book by conservative author Peter Schweizer, “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Help Make Bill and Hillary Rich.” It turned into a gush in the past 24 hours, with reports from The New York Times, POLITICO, The Washington Post, Reuters, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal that were spawned from the book or touched on similar territory. Read more;

In another example of the Clintons’ money and transparency problem, Reuters reported Thursday that the Clinton family’s charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns because of errors in reporting donations from foreign governments.

The errors are on forms called 990, which the IRS requires charity organizations to file every year to keep their tax-exempt status. Starting in 2010, and continuing for three years, the Clinton Foundation’s report said that it did not receive any funds from foreign and U.S. governments, a stark contrast from reported donations in the previous years.

“We are prioritizing an external review to ensure the accuracy of the 990s from 2010, 2011 and 2012 and expect to refile when the review is completed,” a foundation spokesman told Reuters.

The foundation’s Clinton Health Access Initiative, or CHAI, is also refiling its form 990s for at least 2012 and 2013, a spokeswoman said, according to the report. The program, which provides more affordable pharmaceuticals to HIV patients around the world, said its initial filings overreported government grants by more than $100 million.

The Washington Post’s Clinton headline focused on the companies and organizations that are major donors to the Clinton Foundation and have also paid former President Bill Clinton at least $26 million in speaking fees since he left office. It’s yet another indication of the close relationship between the Clintons’ charity work and growing personal wealth.

"She's taken money from countries that abuse the rights of women," Paul said. "I think we should be boycotting that activity, not encouraging it and it looks really bad for the case of defending women's rights."

Foreign governments can still participate in the Clinton Global Initiative, a subsidiary of the foundation, and pay attendance fees.

"I think that to people who want to support the foundation, know full well what it is we stand for and what we're working on," Clinton said.

Foundation officials say the new policies are more stringent than when Clinton was secretary of state.

In 2009, the foundation agreed to greater transparency and to limit foreign donations as part of a deal with the Obama administration, but it never stopped taking money from foreign companies or individuals with ties to their governments. The new rules don't address that, either.

In March, CBS News uncovered a $2 million donation from Rilin Enterprises, a Chinese company run by billionaire Wang Wenliang, who is a delegate to the Chinese parliament and whose firm helped build the Chinese embassy in Washington.